


(un)noticeable pining

by seonho



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, as he should be, blink and you'll see luren, jeno is awkward and whipped, not edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 11:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17141108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seonho/pseuds/seonho
Summary: In which everyone seems to notice Jaemin's intentions with his kissing booth, except Jeno.





	(un)noticeable pining

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smolsoftangry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolsoftangry/gifts).



> this is for you, agninha; merry christmas, hope you like it.

Jeno knows that pining is not a good look on him.

And he knows so, not because he can see his own dumb face as he watches Jaemin walk by his desk in class, or because he actually hear how slightly high pitched his voice sounds whenever he tries to greet the pink haired boy. Jeno knows, because he has two best friends who are more than willing to point that out for him.

“You know, this is starting to become a bit embarrassing,” Renjun says during lunch break that Friday afternoon. Jeno doesn’t need to hear the end of the sentence to know what it’s coming, and his eyes roll in anticipation “I feel like scooping my eyes out of pure cringe whenever Na Jaemin comes within 30 meters of your vicinity”.

Jeno once would have blushed at this, and put himself through feeble attempts of denying, but he was half a semester past that. There’s no point in going over all the details and occasions that led Jeno to this point, when there’s no longer a will to fight back against the defeat that is his ridiculous Jaemin crush, but it suffices to say that the entire situation is very silly, cliched and so, _so_ unlike Jeno.

He knows, of course, he’s not the only one - at least half the school has or had a crush on Na Jaemin, who’s clique defines what means to be popular in high school. That doesn’t bother Jeno though; in fact, it makes him feel that somehow, it’s not _his fault_ that he’s making such a fool of himself. Because really, who could act normally around a boy whose smile is able to light up any room, whose laugh is so genuine that it reaches his eyes every single time, whose face is just - _God_ , his face is just perfect, as if it he was planned and drawn to be the main character in every single dating sim Jeno has seen in his life. Not only that, but he is kind, and friendly, and maybe a bit too much at times, but only in the most endearing of ways. So no, Jeno doesn’t think it’s his fault that he feels all his brain cells melt into puddles whenever he’s around this boy because really, it was _Jaemin_ ; he was as worthy of ‘head-over-heels-heart-melting’ crushes as they came.

“Shut up,” Jeno grunts pointlessly into his sandwich “I don’t get the big deal, it’s just a crush, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to have them at my age, hormones and all. You should pay attention to your biology classes”.

“It _wouldn’t_ be a big deal, if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re so painfully awkward around him, and it’s starting to slowly pain away at us. I didn’t even think you were capable of caring enough to be awkward before Jaemin, but alas, one more surprise I wish I could live without”. Donghyuck, his other best friend, joins in as Renjun nods in agreement.

“Well,” Jeno starts, but he doesn’t know what to say, so he just shrugs and mouths a eloquent “whatever”

His friends seem to drop the subject, as the conversation now shifts to another topic Jeno is paying little attention to. He lets his eyes wander through the room, watching for nothing in particular, and as if trained or magnetized, they end up falling in a very familiar table pressed up against one of the windows.

Jeno likes watching Jaemin with his friends; he always looks the most relaxed as he laughs at something Mark said, or as he lays his head on Yukhei’s shoulders, listening to someone else's stories. He’s aware that staring like that is somewhat creepy, and his friends have already done their fair share in establishing him as some sort of stalker, but Jeno doesn’t think of it like that: he doesn’t stare at Jaemin wishing he was the person he was smiling at, or the person he was having conversations with. It’s not out of jealousy, and it’s not even about how good the butterflies in his stomach feel whenever Jaemin does anything; for Jeno, looking at Jaemin from across the room feels more similar to being in a museum, admiring a piece of art: absolutely breathtaking and completely out of reach. He knows Jaemin is a living and breathing thing, and not just a pretty face Jeno can look at, but somehow, watching him do the minor daily things in absolute comfort, it’s relaxing and addicting to Jeno, and he can’t find in himself to look away.

That, until he realizes he’s no longer just looking at Jaemin mingling with his friends; he’s staring at Jaemin, who’s staring right back at him.

Jeno freezes in his place immediately, and he knows he should probably look away as soon as possible to maintain at least the resemblance that he could’ve been staring in accident. However, his brain has once again turned to mush and his body is not competent to make decisions by itself; so when Jaemin smiles at him, _that smile_ that could make Jeno’s heart grow three times bigger and shrink to the size of a peanut at the same time, and then gives a polite wave, Jeno is sure that he looks absolutely stupid as he feels as his hand raises in just the tiniest wave back.

“Hey, loverboy, are you listening?” Renjun snaps his fingers in his face, and for the first time, Jeno is glad that his friends are annoying him. It breaks him out of his trance, and Jeno can finally look away, breath as if free from a hypnosis only Na Jaemin manages to put him. However, he must still look a bit panicked, because Renjun drops whatever he was saying in favor of asking “Why do you look like you have just seen a ghost?”

Well, in a way, Jeno would like to think that in the 20 meters that sat between him and Jaemin right now, he saw the dead body of his dignity and the nonchalant image he worked to hard to build laying out for everyone to see, so perhaps Renjun was right.

“I was staring at him,” he whispers, as if Jaemin could hear him all the way from across the room, “and he caught me and then he _waved at me_! Oh my god, this is so embarrassing”.

Jeno relays this information in the most urgent of tones, but is a bit disappointed in how mild the reactions from his friends are. “So what? Jaemin waves and says ‘hi’ to you literally everyday, and you fumble with the most basic of answers, so what’s the big deal here?”

That is somewhat true; Jaemin does always makes a point of smiling and saying ‘hi’ to Jeno everytime they cross paths in the hallways, and they have made small talk in a few occasions where he was standing behind him in line for lunch, or if Jaemin needed to borrow some notes in the classes they share. However, every single time, it’s Jaemin who starts the contact, Jaemin who takes the first step, because he’s Na Jaemin and being friendly and sociable is his modus operantis, and it doesn’t mean anything. But if Lee Jeno, who only ever talks to his two closest friends and could be a strong contestant for the “Most Intimidating due to being an Introvert and not liking to meddle with random teenagers Award” had such thing existed, tries to be friendly and sociable and takes the first step towards Na Jaemin, like what just happened, it suddenly means _a lot_ , way more than Jeno wanted to let on. 

Still, when he patiently explains this to his friends, neither of them are particularly impressed by the logic. Donghyuck even makes a point of laughing at the end of it, and in the most natural way, turns his back and waves at Jaemin, the confident smirk in his face making Jeno both want to sink into his seat and get up to punch his best friend.

“See? It’s just a wave, dumbhead, stop overthinking it. Besides, if Jaemin haven’t noticed the way honey drips from your eyes whenever you look at him in the last 6 months, I can guarantee is not this stupid 3 seconds stare that will do it”.

Jeno wants to believe his best friend, because Donghyuck is by far the most socially apt of the three and could easily change his social group to Jaemin’s if he wanted, being that Mark Lee has had a crush on him since freshman year, so his opinions on this matter usually held some weight. But Jeno barely has time to think about it and go back to eat his sandwich when he suddenly feels a presence, a few meters to his left, and realizes, 

Na Jaemin is coming to his table.

“Hi guys! How’s it going?” Jaemin’s tone is cheerful and casual, and even though he addresses the entire table, his eyes stay on Jeno a few beats more than on the other two; it makes his neck and his ears heat up, and Jeno is sure he must be turning red.

Donghyuck and Renjun seem to wait for a few seconds in the expectation that Jeno might finally grow some balls and say something intelligible, but Jeno is not biting, specially not right now, so Donghyuck answers instead “Hi Jaemin! What brings royalty to this side of the land?”.

Jaemin laughs humorously at Donghyuck, and it creates a fire in Jeno’s stomach; he’s heard Jaemin’s laugh many times, but not like this, not this close, not when he’s right by his side. 

“Well,” Jaemin starts, and he pulls out a bunch of flyers from the inside pocket of his jacket. “You know, I’m part of the prom committee right? And we’re making this amazing carnival tomorrow, to gather up money for our graduation trip…”

“Yeah, we’ve heard, the poster is only glued to every single wall this school has” Renjun says in a sarcastic tone, but he has no bite to it. Jaemin’s smile doesn’t fauter, and he goes on.

“You guys _know_ , but I haven’t seen any of the three buy tickets just yet” Jaemin’s tone is playfully sad, and a pout shows in his lips “I came here to say that you really should come! It’s going to have rides, and games, and even a kissing booth!”.

When Donghyuck starts to open his mouth, Jeno knows what’s coming and he’s already planning ways to murder his friend for throwing him under the bus “ _Well_ , we wanted to go, but Mr. ‘I’m-too-cool-for-senior-activities’ over there is being annoying about it, and we’re too good of a friends to let him spend his saturday alone playing Overwatch by himself.”

Jeno scoffs, because what Donghyuck doesn’t tell is that Renjun wasn’t really that into the idea of going either, and that Donghyuck himself only asked once before agreeing that maybe Overwatch and Pepperoni pizzas really were a better idea. He prepares to defend himself, but before he can say anything, he feels Jaemin hands touch his shoulders, his gaze staring directly into Jeno’s eyes, and his entire body shuts down.

“Oh, c’mon _Jeno_ ” Perhaps his body wasn’t shut down after all, because hearing his name roll out of Jaemin’s tongue made a shiver run down his spine. “I promise that if you go, _I’ll make sure you have fun_ ”.

Jeno thinks he heard Renjun choke on his juice at the declaration, and it makes his face grow even redder if that’s possible, but if Jaemin notices anything, he doesn’t let on. He has the same cheerful, confident look on his face, and his eyes are targeted only on Jeno, his hand still on his shoulder. Jeno knows that he’s probably waiting for a answer, so he musters up all the energy left in his entire body to say in what he feels is a casual enough tone that doesn’t entirely reflect his need to get up and throw himself out the window “Sure, we’ll be there”.

Jaemin’s smile grows wider, completely reaching his eyes, and Jeno is surprised to see how genuinely happy he seems with the news. He gives them three fliers, and before he leaves, the hand still on Jeno shoulders gives him a tight squeeze “See you there, then!”.

As Jaemin walks off to meet with his friends, Jeno lets out the longest breath of his life, and shoots the boys across the table from him two murderous looks. Both of them are going between looking slightly dumbfounded at the situation, then laughing at Jeno, then cringing, all at the same time.

Pining was not a good look on him, but he’s sure it’s better than how absolutely panicked he looked now.   

❄❄❄

 

Jaemin really wasn’t joking when he said this fair was going to be cool - looking at all the people walking around with cotton candy and popcorn in their hands and hearing the loud noise of laughs and fun coming from the rides, even Jeno has to admit it feels a lot like being five years old again and going to street fairs with his family. Back then, he always wanted to go with his friends, play on the arcade games and then try to win useless prizes at one of those shooting ranges.

But right now, standing at the edge of the fair and feeling like his heart is about to make a jump out of his mouth and go back home where it’s safe and warm, Jeno would give everything to not be here with his two closest friends.

“I’m hungry, let ‘s go buy popcorn” Renjun says as soon as they step into the parking lot, and some freshman girls brush his arm passing by and then giggle going away.

“We literally just got here” Jeno says in disbelief, his eyes quickly scanning the place for a certain head of light pink hair. He doesn’t find any, which shouldn’t come as surprise being that there are hundreds of people around, but Jeno still feels his shoulders fall a bit.

“So what? Doesn’t change the fact that I’m hungry,” Renjun shrugs, and stares right at Jeno’s obvious expression “No need to be sad loverboy, maybe Jaemin is selling the popcorn and then you can you know, fall in love and make babies”.

“Hmmm, Jeno and Jaemin babies… they’d be adorable if they took Jaemin’s… everything, yeah” Donghyuck adds, and Renjun laughs at Jeno’s part annoyed part embarrassed face. “It’s a shame, really, it’s biologically impossible”.

“You guys are so dumb”, Jeno rolls his eyes, but his friends seem little affected by the comment “and for your information, I wasn’t looking for him, I wanted to find the quickest escape route in the occasion this turns out to be as boring as I think it’ll be”.

“Yeah, yeah, sure...” Donghyuck adds, faking a convinced face “don’t know why you’re worried though, Jaemin said if you came, he’d make sure you had _fun_ ”

Renjun and Donghyuck start laughing, so Jeno takes it as a cue to start walking ahead of them, going towards the popcorn stand.

 

❄❄❄

 

Not that he was actually expecting for Jaemin to be selling popcorn, but after being in the fair for about 40 minutes and having not seen his crush yet, Jeno starts to let his mood be affected by it a little bit more than normal. The only reason he came was so he could see Jaemin do whatever Jaemin does, and maybe get to exchange one of two words with him that would fuel his imagination for the next 2 months, but so far, all he got was overpriced popcorn and losing to Renjun on a arcade game three times on a roll.

“Hey! You guys are here!”

When Jeno hears Mark’s voice, he’s a little bit embarrassed to how quickly his head perks up from staring at his phone. However, it really is just Mark and his stupid love fool smile towards Donghyuck, and there’s no Jaemin in sight, making Jeno feel a bit stupid on how his heart slows down in disappointment.

“Hi Mark!” Donghyuck smiles cheekily back, and Renjun and Jeno give polite smiles that serve as greetings as well. “We’ve been here a while, haven’t seen a lot of people from out class though”

Mark snorts, then shakes his head slightly. “Yeah, cause they’re all at the line to the Kissing Booth, or watching whatever is going on there”.

“Really? Who’s the sacrificial lamb for herpes?” Renjun asks.

“Jaemin” Mark says, and the look he shoots Jeno makes the younger boy use all of his will to try and not show any embarrassing reactions, despite the fact that his heart is a hundred miles per hour and he wants to smile just by hearing his crushes name.

“Really?” Donghyuck looks genuinely surprised “I thought Yukhei was doing it. Was even hoping to get Renjun to line up…”

Renjun smacks Donghyuck in the arm, and Jeno snorts. Feels good to not be the target of teasing at least for once.

Mark laughs too. “Yeah, I’m sure he would have liked that too” Renjun doesn’t blush, but Jeno is sure he sees him swallow nervously. “But no, like, Jaemin volunteered yesterday after lunch and was very insistent about it”.

Everyone nods, not sure what to add, so Mark continues “He actually just told me that if I saw any of you, I should tell you to drop by and say hi, specially you, Jeno!”.

There’s no point in pretending he’s not blushing like a 15 years old teenager now, so Jeno mumbles a “yeah, sure”, and starts thinking about all the ways he can make an excuse not to go and prevent embarrassing himself even further. He has no idea why Jaemin would want him to say hi, but he guesses it has something to do with what he said yesterday, and Jeno can’t stop the inkling in his heart that Jaemin knows he’s into him and this is all a Carrie-like plan to embarrass him.

“How about you Mark? Why didn’t you volunteer for the booth?”. Donghyuck asks, the same cheeky smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes that makes Mark blush.

“Nah, not my thing” Mark answers with a nervous laughter, scratching the back of his head.

“Shame,” Donghyuck flicks his tongue in his mouth, making a noise “I even prepared my lip balm”.

Mark chokes on his own breath, and Jeno and Renjun try to hide their urge to smile.

They end up walking together in the direction of the Kissing Booth, and Jeno can see what Mark was talking about: the line was surprisingly big, filled with boys and girls alike, and Jeno feels a bit weird on his stomach to think that it would be so easy to just stop at the end of the line, wait a few minutes, and then he would kiss Na Jaemin.

He brushes the thought quickly out of his mind, because Jeno himself knows he would never do it, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach remains, and only grows stronger once he can finally see the red sign indicating the booth, and the boy standing below it.

Jaemin is pretty - that much is obvious to anyone that has ever seen him even for a fraction of a second. But right at that moment, with the sun shining on his face, the pink hair styled down, two heart stickers glowing on each of his cheeks and his smile, _his brilliant smile_ that made anyone with a beating heart hold their breaths for a second, scared that if they made any harsh movements it would go away, it was all _too much_. Jaemin isn’t only pretty in the way high school boys sometimes are: he is breathtaking, and almost ethereal, and when he laughs with his head back and lays a peck in a sophomore girl’s lips, Jeno is sure Jaemin was what the embodiment of youth looks like.  

He must be staring a bit too intensively again, because before the next person in line comes over, Jaemin gaze looks up to meet Jeno’s eyes, and the latter feels like whatever is in his stomach plans to suffocate him. Jaemin’s smile is now filling his entire face, and he signals in enthusiasm for them to come over.

Jeno is not sure if it’s not a bit weird for him to suddenly cut line, so he lets Mark and Donghyuck lead the way. When they get close enough, and Jaemin is just saying bye to someone else, he finally looks directly at them.

“I’m so happy you actually came!” He says, and he sounds genuinely happy, which makes Jeno want to smile. Jaemin was the nicest human being on earth, and he was sure of it. “I was starting to think you would stand me up”

Jaemin gives Jeno’s shoulder a playful push, to make sure he knows he was talking about him, and Jeno is a bit dumbfounded as he laughs awkwardly. _Stand him up?_ It was a fair, they didn’t come _together_ , how would Jeno stand him up.

“Yeah, well,” Jeno manages to say, and his friends are surprised to see him acting like a human being. “I came a while ago, you were the one too busy around here”.

Jaemin seems surprised that Jeno has answered him in a eloquent manner, and it gives Jeno confidence to not fold into himself when the pink haired boy says in a cheeky tone; “Not _that busy_ , I stopped the line a bit for you, right?”

It’s true; a lot of people seem to be looking at them talking as they wait in line, and normally that may have made Jeno want to run away (not because he was too shy about people looking at him, but because it is embarrassing and not very like him to even _be here_ ), but he is honestly too distracted with all the attention Jaemin is giving him to care.

Before Jeno has a chance to answer, Jaemin finally drifts his gaze to the other boys standing with them, and they share a quick conversation about the fair and other stuff. Jeno takes the opportunity to look at Jaemin from up close, and he’s sure Jaemin can probably feel his gaze making holes on his cheek, because after a few minutes (when people in line start to get impatient), he turns back to Jeno and, alike what he did in the lunchroom the previous day, touches his arm lightly, sending a wave of electricity through his body.

“So, I actually have a break in a hour or so” He says, his tone quieter as if only for Jeno “We should meet! I said I was going to make this fun for you, and I wasn’t joking”.

Here it is again: the nervous feeling deep in Jeno’s mind that all of this makes no sense, and that it is all too odd that suddenly, Jaemin seems to want for Jeno’s company so much. And maybe his doubts show in Jeno’s expression, or maybe Jaemin is as nervous as he is with everything, because he quickly starts babbling “Or not! If you want to spend time with the boys, I’m sure you’d have fun too and…”

“No!” Jeno adds, a bit too quickly, and Jaemin’s confident smile returns “No, I mean, that’s cool, we can meet up!”

He fails at making his tone sound casual, but he’s glad that Jaemin doesn’t seem to notice or react to it. “Cool! That’s awesome! In a hour at the Cotton Candy booth?”.

Jeno nods, and then a second later he’s moving away with his friends, as Jaemin gives him one last wave and calls the next person in line.

 

❄❄❄

 

The following hour goes by as if it’s dragging itself, and it doesn’t help that Donghyuck and Renjun can’t stop making kissing noises, re-enacting Jeno’s face and just making him even more nervous by hyper analyzing every single second of his conversation with Jaemin.

(“He’s so after you ass, Jeno” Donghyuck says, as they wait in line for a ride.

“Shut up!” Jeno replies, not believing how much his friends were seeing the situation wrong.

“Why else would he want you two to meet? By yourselves?” His friend continues

“I guess he wants to be friends” Jeno answers, his voice small.

Renjun snorts “Yeah, right, and why the hell would he want to be friends with you? Although, I can’t see why he would want to kiss you either, so alas”. )

When it finally hits an hour later, and it’s right at the peak of the afternoon, Jeno starts to get ready to leave. The boys tease him, wishing him good luck on his “date”, and Jeno flips them off; although, part of him wonders if they were right.

Jeno walks slowly, both because he thinks being right on time is slightly embarrassing, and also because he’s dreading the awkwardness he knows this will turn out to be. He’s never been in a situation where he was by himself with Jaemin, and he had no idea what they would even _talk_ about.

When he approaches the Cotton Candy booth, Jaemin is already there, behind a huge cotton that matches perfectly the color of his hair. He smiles as Jeno approaches, and Jeno smiles back, completely fascinated by the adorable sight.

 _Jeno is so whipped_.

“I bought this for us!” Jaemin greets as soon as Jeno is within hearing range. “Hope you don’t mind sharing”.

Jeno takes a piece of the cotton candy and eats it, humming in approvement. “Cool by me, I have a sweet tooth”.

Jaemin nods, still smiling, and eats a piece himself. He’s not as neat as Jeno, and leaves a bunch of sugar in his lips and around his mouth; Jeno can’t help but wonder how sweet it would be too kiss him like that.

“I spent _so many hours_ in that booth,” Jaemin starts whining “I was hoping to maybe catch a few of the rides! And the games! Did you go on them all?”

“I guess so?” Jeno answers, and Jaemin’s shoulders drop a bit, a tiny ‘oh’ leaving his mouth. Jeno quickly adds. “But I don’t mind going again! They were, you know, fun!”.

Jaemin perks up again at the sound of that, and it makes harder for Jeno not to smile. “Let’s go then! I only have an hour before I’m back in the booth”.

They walk around the fair, stopping by almost every single one of the attractions, Jaemin’s excitement eventually catching up to Jeno, so that both their faces are plastered with huge smiles, and both their laughs can be obnoxiously heard from other people trying to enjoy their afternoon. Unlike what Jeno imagined, it’s only awkward for about 5 minutes, before Jaemin’s natural friendly behaviour fills up any space between them and turns their conversation to the type of chatter anyone would have with their friends. They play on shooting ranges, and Jaemin wins Jeno a Tupperware bottle, they play on the arcades, where Jeno finally has a chance to shine and murder Jaemin’s scores. They even go on the rides Jeno was too scared to face with Renjun, and maybe Jaemin can feel that, because he takes Jeno’s hand as they turn upside down, and then doesn’t let go even after they leave the ride, shooting adrenaline through Jeno’s body in a way no ride could do.

It’s fun, and comfortable, and when it’s almost time for Jaemin to go, they sit down in one of the benches, eating ice cream. He steals Jaemin a few glances, before asking.

“Why did you volunteer for the kissing booth?” Jaemin looks at him a bit too quickly, surprised by the question, and when he starts to blush, Jeno thinks he might be intruding, so he reformulates “I mean, isn’t it awkward to kiss all those people you don’t know?”.

"People _you_ don’t know,” Jaemin answers, pushing their shoulders together playfully “I know most of them…”

“Ouch” Jeno jokes, and Jaemin laughs “rubbing in your popularity much?”

“You know you could know them too,” Jaemin says, shaking his head “If only you ever showed up to anything besides your classes, or didn’t only smile to Donghyuck or Renjun, or, you know, didn’t constantly act like you’re Too Cool For This Popularity Thing”.

Jeno frowns and blushes at the same time; both because he knows it’s true, and because he had no idea Jaemin even knew enough about him to have an opinion about how he ‘constantly acts’.

“That’s not true,”  Jeno says, his bottom lip going forward in a barely noticeable pout, and his voice turning defensive “I don’t think I’m cooler than anyone else… I just like keeping to my friends. But I’m not against making new ones, either”.

Jaemin smiles, and nudges even closer to Jeno, so that their arms and legs and feets are touching. “That’s good. I would like to be your friend.”

Jeno smiles back at Jaemin, and they share a look for a bit, before turning their focus back to the ice cream. It feels nice and calm, and even though deep down ‘friend’ is not exactly what Jeno would like, it’s much, _much_ more than what he expected that morning, and he’s happy by that. He’ll be Jaemin’s friend for as long as he can if it means they can sit down together side by side like this, and he can hold his hand, and look at his stupidly beautiful side profile.

After about ten minutes, Jaemin licks his fingers off the ice cream (Jeno looks away, scared he will end up just staring at his mouth again), and then gets up. Jeno feels a bit colder and a bit emptier when Jaemin drops his hand, and surprisingly disappointed to know their time is up. He won’t admit it, but part of him is scared that the moment Jaemin walks away, he will wake up and realize the perfect hour they just spent together was a dream.

“I’m going back to the booth now” Jeno feels a bit warmer to hear that Jaemin also sounds a bit less cheerful, and the pink boy’s face is a mirror of his own “You know, duty calls”.

“Oh yeah,” Jeno teases “I’m sure if you’re late, the legion of freshmans might start a riot”

“You know, they could” Jaemin says, now with a cocky smile in his face “My kisses are that powerful”.

Jeno laughs loudly, and Jaemin joins in. “Well, I can only imagine, judging by the line”

Jeno doesn’t notice the mischievous look on Jaemin’s eyes. “Well, for what’s it’s worth, if you come over, I’ll give you a _friend_ discount. Might even make it for free if you’re lucky”.

Jeno laughs in the most awkward manner possible, because he knows Jaemin is probably just joking (right?) and his face is burning hot with embarrassment. Does Jaemin know that’s what Jeno wants to do? Is he just messing with him? Is this the calm before the storm when they drop the bucket of blood on Carrie’s head?

They share quick goodbyes, and go their opposite ways as Jeno tries to find his friends.

 

❄❄❄

 

Jeno doesn’t end up going by the kissing booth. 

Not even when he tells Donghyuck and Renjun what happened, and they almost drag him there, absolutely certain that Jaemin meant what he said. Not even if he thinks about it the rest of the day, only half paying attention to whatever his friends were saying. Not even if, deep down, he thought about all the perfect scenarios that would involve him, kissing Jaemin. Jeno doesn’t have the guts, can’t be sure if Jaemin wasn’t just being friendly, can’t be sure if he was projecting and misreading all the signs.

Jeno doesn’t go even after Yukhei, someone he barely spoke two full sentences with his entire life, comes up to him out of the blue to talk about it.

(“Y’know, the kissing booth is kind of empty now. I think you should go, Jaemin is a bit lonely…”)

But maybe he should’ve, because when it is night and people are packing things up, Jeno feels his heart heavy; the day is over, and he is going home.

Donghyuck can read Jeno’s face without making any effort, so when he and Mark approach (holding hands? Jeno makes a mental note to ask about it later), he already knows what’s coming.

“You, dumbass, take off this stupid sad puppy expression because you have no right to be upset” His voice is annoyed, slightly tired. “I don’t wanna hear a single thing about Jaemin for the rest of the year, you lost you ‘hopeless-crushing’ rights when you chose to play dumb”.

Jeno is also annoyed, and also tired (so much so he really doesn’t care Mark is listening). “I am not playing dumb! I’m not going to go there and _buy_ a ticket so I _make_ him kiss me”.

Mark almost chokes on his own words, a look of complete disbelief in his face. “You think you’d be making him kiss you? Like, you think he would do it because you paid for it?”

The way Mark repeats things makes Jeno hesitant to say anything, so he just nods. Mark laughs, a laugh louder than he ever heard him use before “Wow, with all do respect, you really are dumb”.

Jeno is digging his feet into the ground, annoyed, because it’s starting to get a bit exhaustive that no one gets him. That doesn’t stop Mark from continuing.

“Jaemin literally only did the kissing booth because he thought it was the only way you’d actually _do something_. He knows you like him, everyone knows you like him, and guess what dumbass, he likes you too? And he went out of his way today to give you all the possible hints? He asked you, in your face, to kiss him on the booth, then he asked us to ask you, and we did, and you still think this is not mutual? Jaemin is the one who thinks it isn't mutual! Because you blew him off all day!”.

 _Oh_ .  
  
So Jeno wasn’t misreading it.

Somehow, this makes his chest explode at the same time he feels like throwing up. Because then, what now?

Jeno is frozen in his spot, and doesn’t say anything for maybe a minute or two, his cheeks burning from embarrassment and his body still not sure what it should be doing. Eventually, Mark offers in a neutral tone.

“I think he’s probably packing up the booth right now. Maybe you should go help him”  


❄❄❄

 

Jaemin is humming to himself and folding things when Jeno approaches, quietly. He watches the pink haired guy for a few seconds, his hair now a bit messy from the moving around, and one of the hearts in his cheek already down to his chins. He remembers how much Jaemin was shining during the day, with the sun hitting on his face, and he can’t say he’s surprised to see that moonlight does him well, too: it makes him glow, as if all the stars are trying to shine on him.

Even with Mark’s words sounding in his ear, Jeno is still a ball of nerves and butterflies and fireworks and all the other cliches, and as he shifts his weight from side to side, it takes a lot not to crack his voice as he speaks up.

“Hi, Jaemin?”.

Jaemin looks up, and there’s a surprised look in his face. For a second, Jeno thinks he also saw something he couldn’t quite place, like he was upset, but it goes away quickly as Jaemin opens a polite smile; not _that smile_ , not the smile that Jeno loves, but one that doesn’t reach his eyes and makes Jeno much more nervous to go on. 

“Oh, Jeno”. He says at first, and then adds after a few seconds of the black haired boy just staring at him. “Can I help you…? Did Mark send you to ask when we’re going? Cause I already told him he better wait for me or…”

“No, it’s not that” Jeno interrupts with a nervous laughter, before Jaemin start babbling on. “You… told me to come over the booth, you know, a few hours ago… and I came”.

Jaemin’s expression is surprised by this, and Jeno can see the tips of his ears turn red. It makes him annoyed that now that he already _knows_ , he starts seeing all the signs he should’ve saw before. 

“Well,” Jaemin says, and his voice sounds a bit nervous when he focuses on finishing to fold things. “The booth is closed now, we’re not selling tickets anymore”.

Jeno mutters a quiet ‘oh’, because he doesn’t know what to say and this is not going as smoothly as it could. His brain is telling him to _go, go, go_ , because Jeno is not someone who insists, who puts this much effort and opens himself to be this vulnerable by doing it.

But this is Na Jaemin. And deep down, Jeno knows that if he walks away now, he will never get this chance again. So he stays, and takes a nervous step towards the pink haired kid.

“I was hoping you could make an exception,” He says, and his voice comes out stronger and more confident than he imagined it “you know, for a boy that’s very nervous and a bit dense and couldn’t find in himself to come earlier, even though he really, _really_ wanted to”.

This makes Jaemin stop folding things, and stay still for a few seconds. Jeno can’t quite see his expression from his position, and it makes him anxious to think that maybe Jaemin is making a disgusted look, or maybe he’s regretting all his decisions. When Jaemin doesn’t say anything for what Jeno thinks it’s a beat to long, he starts to freak out. “Or you couldn’t, cause you know, you kissed random people’s mouth all day and maybe you’re tired so it’s fine and I should’ve just come earlier anyway and…”

It happens too fast.

Jaemin’s lips are on his.

Jeno gasps against Jaemin’s mouth, and for the first few seconds, his body is too froze on the spot to do anything but just focus, focus on the feeling of what was going on, trying not to panic completely. But Jaemin’s mouth tastes like cotton candy, ice cream, lip balm and all the sweetest things that Jeno always imagined, so he moves his hand to the other’s boy hair, and he kisses him back.

Jaemin’s hands are on Jeno’s waist, Jeno’s hands are on Jaemin’s head, and Jaemin’s mouth is on his, and the world around them is slowly fading away. Because Jaemin kisses him tender, and Jeno kisses him back, their lips pulling away and meeting one, two, three times as they relax against each other.

Jeno takes his hand to Jaemin’s waist, gently pushing him against the parking lot fence, and then he finds his own body pressing onto Jaemin’s, fitting together as if pieces of a puzzle, breaths mixing together and chests moving up and down in the same beat. The pink haired boy plays with Jeno’s lower lip, sucking and biting and licking, and Jeno releases sounds from his throat he’d be embarrassed to remember later. Jaemin giggles into the kiss, and Jeno takes the opportunity to deepen it, sucking into Jaemin’s tongue, making it so that they rub on together.

Jaemin has his hand under Jeno’s shirt, drawing patterns in near the buckles of his pants, and it gives Jeno shivers through his body, because fuck, that is _hot_. It’s intense, and desperate, and Jeno doesn’t hesitate in putting his hand on Jaemin’s tight, lifting him up and pressing their bodies together against the fence, so that Jaemin’s legs are tied around his back, and Jeno’s mouth can trace paths on his ear, neck, shoulders. He kisses and then he sucks it and one or two times his tongue meets Jaemin milk white skin, Jaemin shaking and whining, slowly driving Jeno insane.

He bites the skin from under Jaemin’s ear, and the pink haired boy releases the sweetest sound, pulling his head away and taking Jeno’s mouth in the a desperate, messy and passionate kiss.

And they kiss, they kiss, they kiss until breathing has to become a priority, their faces never leaving each others; and then they go back and kiss more, and more deeply, and then more tenderly, slow and fast, romantic and lustful. It’s teenage hormones and beating hearts, it’s shallow breaths and butterflies in their stomach, and it’s so, so much more than anything Jeno could have ever imagined.

When their lips are red and swollen, and their bodies become tired of all the grinding and pressing, they stand against each other, foreheads touching and lazy pecks being laid on each others mouth, just so that it feels real, just so that they know it’s not over, that the other person really is there.

“Jesus christ, took you long enough” Jaemin finally says, and he sounds breathless but happy nonetheless.

“Well, but isn’t this,” Jeno starts, laying wet kisses on his crushes mouth once again “so much better than the pecking on the booth?”

Their lips meet again for a few moments before Jaemin hums into his mouth, in agreement. “That’s true. I told you my kisses were powerful, but yours Jeno Lee, they’re so much more”.

They spend some time together, enjoying how it feels to be with each other. Jeno thought that if this ever happened, his chest would be exploding, his mind would be melting, his legs would give in. But rather than that, it feels rather peaceful, and comfortable and so incredibly warm; it fills him up inside.

Jeno eventually helps Jaemin finish folding his stuff, getting more kisses in return, and then they hold hands and walk together to meet their friends and what would sure be endless teasing and laughter.

Pining really wasn’t a good look on Jeno.

The dumb smile on his face from kissing Na Jaemin until his mouth felt numb fit him so, so much better.

**Author's Note:**

> the fact that my first fic in this site is a nomin truly is the most random thing ever. hopefully it was ok though?  
> thank you for reading and merry christmas everyone!
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/seokuns)  
> [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/johnwoos)


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